Urban substations, Mexico City

Customer: PROLEC-GE

Location: Mexico City

Application: Power transformers

Highest voltage: 36/48/60 MVA, 230/23/15 kV, HV OLTC

Safety in the City

In 2015, the joint venture between GE and Xignux (PROLEC-GE) responded when the national Mexican utility, CFE (Comision Federal de Electricidad), set about updating its substations serving greater Mexico City (population – over 20 million people). The transformers were located both indoors and outdoors, within the city’s very dense population centers.

The aim was to provide safer installations, reduce environmental impact and improve power system reliability. PROLEC-GE was able to meet these criteria by delivering power transformers filled with MIDEL 7131 synthetic ester instead of mineral oil. PROLEC-GE understood that using a synthetic ester liquid as a coolant and dielectric insulator provides a higher fire point along with biodegradability for the transformer fluid; fire risk is greatly mitigated and the potential for soil contamination is eliminated.

The modernization project involved more than 50 power transformers; the electric substations now satisfy the new technical, ecological, safety and service standards.

“Fires in transformers can be highly dangerous and devastating, especially in indoor substations or densely populated areas. That is why we decide to invest in the safety of our installations with this new technology, successfully proven in other countries” commented Federico Ibarra, CFE Technical Manager.

PROLEC-GE is a joint venture between GE and Xignux, S.A. de C.V. It is one of the largest transformer manufacturers in the Americas, offering a full line of transformer products for the generation, transmission and distribution of electric power.